Warren police boss tapped for crime board

Warren Police Commissioner Jere Green is among four people appointed by Gov. Rick Snyder to a new panel targeting organized retail crime.

Green, the city’s top police administrator since 2010, will represent city, township and village police departments on the Organized Retail Crime Advisory Board, Snyder announced Friday.

The panel was created in 2012 to compile annual statistics on retail crime, develop a database and recommend actions combatting retail crime.

“Organized retail crime is a growing problem in our state, and this board will play an important role in curtailing it and protecting hard-working Michiganders,” the governor said in a prepared statement announcing his choices.

Green, 58, has spent 33 years in law enforcement, all in Warren where he rose through the ranks to the top post. He has been a member of the Warren Woods Public Schools Board of Education for 15 years, currently serving as president.

“I’m honored to be recognized in my capacity as a law enforcement administrator and look forward to serving with other board members to advise and seek remedies to curtail organized retail crime in Michigan,” Green said.

Also appointed by the governor:

*Douglas Lloyd of Lansing, the Eaton County chief assistant prosecutor who heads the economic crimes unit – including retail fraud – for the Eaton prosecutor’s office.

*William Hallan of Okemos, vice president of government affairs and general counsel to the Michigan Retailers Association.

*Wayne County Commissioner Richard LeBlanc of Westland, who will represent the general public. LeBlanc is a former state representative and previously served on the Wayne-Westland Community Schools Board of Education and the Westland City Council.

Each of the new members will serve 4-year terms.

The board, which will be housed in the Michigan Department of State Police, will include the state attorney general and the state police director, or their respective designees, as members.